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Local Memories

2001 - Keith and Sandra were the owners of the original Croft House, now No. 10 Gwel Trencrom, but was No. 8 Water Lane with a road entrance onto Water Lane when they purchased the house from the building developers about 1989. The house has been heavily improved and extended. It had been a small holding and the owner at the time also kept bees. For a short time they used the Water Lane entrance until the site roads etc had been built where upon they had a new entrance and a house was built across the old.

2001 – Met Brian who was exhibiting at the 'Old Cornwall Society' display at Phillack Hall. He was about 75; came to Hayle at the age of 10 years (say 1936) and has lived here ever since. He recalls the area of the Croft when it was all mounds of waste from Mellanear Mine. During the war the Home Guard crawled all over it (as with other areas) as this might account for the spent blank 303 cartridges and the tank buster shell case that I found. Said that the stone crusher was where Tolroy Garage is now; that Tresanton was the Mine Manager's house; and retold the story of the engine pumps working so well that it lowered the levels in the domestic wells nearby. All signs of the Mellanear engine houses, buildings etc were gone by the time he moved here at the age of 10 years.

2001 – Went on a guided walking tour of Gwithian dunes and spoke to Kenneth. He was about 75 to 80 years old. He remembers the area well from the 1940s. Remembered that Gundry's shaft was in the garden of a retired school teacher. Brown knew the history of the mine and seemed to think that the breaking of the ropes ? Or pulleys ? Or .something that led to it falling back down the shaft; was the contributing factor that eventually led to the closure of the mine

2001 - Linda retold the story of Gundry's shaft which is in her garden. It was filled before they started work on the plot, but also foundations were discovered when they were digging trenches for the foundations of the bungalow. Where their front door is now they found a large circle of brick flooring and foundations and being unsure of the shaft etc they called in mining experts. The circle was the base of a furnace and chimney and experts decided that the remains were the smelting house which was on the site.

2001 – Stan who lived opposite Linda was one of the first to build. He said that when the diggers were on Linda's vacant plot, they slipped into Gundry's shaft but did not fall any further down. A number of premix concrete lorries were then lined up to continuously pour concrete on the plug already there.